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Highlights of Faarooq's college football career, a career that coincided with the rise of Florida State into a perennial powerhouse. Bobby Bowden makes another appearance! Well-done feature to re-humanize what had been a fairly one-dimensional character in the WWF.

Helmsley is now being referred to directly as "Triple H." He offers some shooty-shoot comments but is overall still a lousy promo. His swearing is about as forced as Shane Douglas'. Helmsley sells shock and horror at being forced to wrestle Undertaker tonight, but quickly forgets about it once the Hart Foundation shows up.

I was ready to sniff at this, but okay, Kanemura working hurt changes things. Nowhere near the best of the FMW death matches, as it seems like that blaring siren hurt the crowd heat and even if it was conceivable that the match could end before the explosion, I sure wasn't thinking of that. The explosion itself is pretty impressive, though.

This was enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing more of these two. I get what's being said about it taking excessively long to set up tables, and that's a criticism I've made in past Yearbook matches, but intentional or not I thought the final table spot set-up worked here: Awesome takes too long, and his big power bomb from the ring to the table backfires on him in a major way. So they had a bit of psychology to go along with the big bombs, all of which showed some awesome execution. And a simple and well-done finish, too.

Good match that's a bit hard to follow at times due to the bad VQ--luckily all four guys are distinctive-looking enough to mitigate the problem somewhat. Not only do we have the novelty of Kobashi showing up in FMW, we have a rare glimpse of him really wrestling and carrying himself like an ace. He's by far the #1 guy in the match and for once he wrestles like it. Granted, we can't see if he does any of his crying spots, but every time he's in, it feels like a huge momentum shift with Hayabusa and Shinzaki having to fight and to double-team just to stay even--they come across as underdogs even though Mossman is the glorified rookie and bottom man on the totem pole. We get the inevitable result but not without a few curveballs that have you believing that Kenta might just do the J-O-B but still being firmly established as the top dog. Also, thank God the other matches on this show apparently aren't like this.

Notable for New Jack's dive out of the balcony. This certainly didn't wear out its welcome. Styles was actually full of useful tidbits here, noting each team's number of tag title reigns and pointing out that the Dudleys were the only team with wins over both the Gangstas and Eliminators.

A fantastic match and another MOTYC--one that seems to build on their January bout with Tamura being more of a peer than a guy who was gutsy but overmatched. There are so many cool little moments on the mat here--what stood out to me were some truly agonizing "near-misses" as it appears both guys are just milliseconds away from locking in a deciding submission only to either lose the hold or be countered. Han also actually shows some character work here, such as trying to dismiss his knockdowns to the referee as slips. Tamura hasn't slowed down a bit--he's the Best in the World for this year, hands down. While I understand it, I find it a bit of a pity that he never did wrasslin' because I think he'd have been spectacular working pro-style.

Fun little match that sort of stays "little," though I did get into the closing stretch and Liger absolutely annihilates Wagner for a suitable ending. The sort of weird mishmashed teams makes for a fun viewing experience but it's also not as smooth and breathtaking as the Michinoku Pro tags where everybody knows everything about how everybody else works.

Maybe they expected Barr to get over because he actually did.

The HBK push *is* out of control, but there's nothing for me to do but sit back and get used to it, because it's only going to get worse from here.

Yes, definitely Helmsley's best career match to this point. A lot of the usual Cactus falls-count-anywhere spots make their return, including the pinfall reversals on the floor which I'll always love. Great pace and they go to lots of different places and never resort to comedy--this is a hate-filled street fight all the way. A terrific finish that looks great, and I like the visual of Chyna frantically diving to break the count but being a few seconds too late. The WWF really went all-out for the first Garden Raw and it paid off in multiple ways.

Pillman just can't do anything anymore--just sad to watch. This was a neat little mini-angle, though, with Owen and Pillman going through the motions of a match a la Chris Candido and the Dark Secret in SMW, but some subterfuge by Marlena leads to both men losing their temper and going all-out. Goldust runs in for the DQ, but since he slugged Owen to get to Pillman, Owen wins. Owen acts like he's already won the IC title and we get a great camera straight-on camera angle of Austin appearing out of nowhere in the background to level him. It's gearshift angle time! The NYPD is out to arrest Austin for violating the restraining order, but McMahon manages to call them off so he can talk some sense into Austin himself. Austin acquiesces and agrees to "work within the system"--right before a boot to the gut and the biggest Stunner of them all. There was great build to this and it was a great idea to save this for the first MSG Raw. THIS is how you manufacture an "MSG moment"--show great Garden clips of the past and follow it up with a monumental segment that works organically, without beating us over the head with slogans like they do every WrestleMania. Watching this, it's hard to believe that Vince had to be talked into going heel after Survivor Series--it's like there's no other path to go besides Austin winning the title at WrestleMania and kicking this to another level.

Vince makes the announcement that HIAC will be a #1 contenders match, and emphasizes that the bottom of the ring will be inspected to prevent anyone from coming from underneath. Shawn cuts a fantastically obnoxious and whiny promo about why he has to go through UT to get a title shot considering he's already won every title.

I liked this more than anyone else--it's not one of Hogan's higher-end heel promos, but it works, just like the Piper one did. I've been bitching more than anyone about political bullshit overwhelming the product in this time period, but Hogan talking about Flair on the shelf served to set up his plans for Piper in the cage and how Piper will be joining him, so I think it actually worked here.

After a show's worth of hype the big announcement is Luger will wrestle Hall with Larry Z as the official ref. Meh. But I'm fine with the Hall-Zbyszko angle. Piper *does* cut a pretty good promo, and he even looks better than he has in previous months. The Brigham Young line was good and Piper does an effective job of getting over the brutality of cage matches. I still don't want to see this main event but in context, it's working.

Boos for the NWO, but they sing along with the catchphrases anyway. Hall cuts a nice promo full of fire and energy after the rote opening. He's not doing the too-cool-for-school act, he's putting over Larry as having gotten to him.

Disco upsets Wright for the TV title in a nice moment, that's ruined not 10 seconds later by the presence of Jacqueline. I like Jackie just fine, but this angle was just stupid and petty and something that 2015 WWF would do.

I missed the big Hugh Morrus babyface turn, but he's slapping hands and actually gets a decent response considering who it is. He's facing some bald guy who raises eyebrows by kicking out of No Laughing Matter, doing a nice backflip, and then debuting the Jackhammer for the win. I think WCW, to their credit, knew what they had here. He's still raw and awkward but already has the makings of a star.

Kimberly's a lot hotter when she's not talking.

Put me with Childs on this. Well, I guess I didn't "viscerally hate" it, but I sure didn't give much of a fuck about it, either. This is, like, the 50th most intense joshi brawl I've watched on these Yearbooks, and even though I've made this remark for every AJW match for the past 2 Yearbooks the lack of crowd heat is astounding. I'm also--yet again--letting real life take over my views on the match, as I'm reading along in the Observers how badly AJW is falling apart at this point, to an even greater degree than late-'90s WCW. LCO had given their notice and with a bunch of other workers leaving as a result of not getting paid (the Matsunagas' real estate investments had done even more damage than AJW's falling business), the company was left with a roster of 11 (!) people. The 1995 Smoky Mountain/2001 WCW vibe is palpable here. The actual work itself is pretty aimless for 3/4 before picking up towards the end--yeah, no question that finish was one for the ages, but the journey there simply didn't make this a worthwhile investment. It's interesting to note that about the only things that *do* get a reaction here are wrestling moves.

Yeah, this has good action but it's almost impossible to view as an actual angle/long-term booking instead of an outright political hit. Just like the Horsemen/NWO stuff in North Carolina, it would work great as theater if this led to *anything*, but it has the same flaws that can't be ignored. No Hart Foundation until it's too late, palpable bullshit surrounding everything, and with hindsight we know there's no payoff or redemption coming either. Shawn throwing Davey Boy's knee brace at Diana would be fantastic heeling, but it comes off more as Mike Hickenbottom being a dick rather than Shawn Michaels. I am somewhat amused by the implication in the video package and post-match that Diana's accusations from 1996 were actually correct. Edit: Also, the interference was overbooked to the point where it's almost impossible for anyone to cover for, but man oh man is Earl Hebner an awful official. Tommy Young and even his brother Dave had the ability to seemingly just miss interference, while Earl practically makes a show of turning his back on obvious bullshit. Another thing that overwhelms the match and makes evaluating the work just about impossible.

Best ZombieTaker match ever? I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks. Some great builds and payoffs and then payoffs to payoffs here, particularly centering around the exposed turnbuckle. Bret takes his chest-first bump into it which is sold and put over huge as a major turning point, then later he tries to dodge it on an Irish whip and ends up sliding back-first into the bottom of the ring post. He and UT also do some great work centering around Undertaker's legs, which are a recurring counter-spot that Bret goes to several times during the match when he appears beaten. And Undertaker even resurrects (ha) the ol' Mean Mark heart punch. Some hot near-falls, some great mixed crowd reactions...the non-finish is "eh" but you do buy Undertaker as a guy being pushed to the breaking point between the Shawn feud and the lingering presence of Kane (who isn't mentioned at all, oddly enough). Both guys worked hard here but this is a real triumph for Bret if he's the one who laid this out, as I suspect he did.

A very good match, probably Owen's last really good one, at least a straight wrestling match. Owen has lots of good hit-and-run offense that Vader sells tremendously, particularly his wobbly and awkward fall after getting enzuigiri'd. And the bodyslam was a cool moment. And of course Vader continues, even at this late stage, to be one of the best cut-off heels you'll ever see in wrestling. Cool offense, good heat, strong psychology with everything making sense--it's not going to be on any Match of the Year lists but for an upper-midcard PPV bout you can't ask for much more.

Very NXT-esque video package, complete with a little bit of kayfabe-breaking, "we're setting out to have a great match."

I'm pretty sure that if my GWE rankings went deep enough, I'd rank Bill Alfonso ahead of RVD. In fact, I don't think I'd even have to think that hard about it. The man has a better grasp of fundamentals and psychology than RVD ever did--and he was absolutely game here, bleeding a sick gusher, taking some wild bumps, and even unleashing some High-End Offense. This is at least twice now that he's had a match with a fellow non-wrestler that's about 907 times better than it had any right to be, but Beulah is a better worker and more over than Tod Gordon. Legitimately one of the more enjoyable ECW segments of the year, and I'm not entirely sure this isn't the best match of '97 for the promotion. Dream match that I never knew I wanted until now: Bill Alfonso vs. Mark Curtis.